Good morning, RVA! It's 59 °F, and today we’ve got more of the same—which is not so bad. Expect highs right around 70 °F and more of those cloudy skies. Temperatures will start to creep up tomorrow, and the sun has tentative plans to return this weekend. As of right now, next week looks stunning.
Water cooler
Yesterday, I got my mail-in ballot for this coming November’s election, which is, of course, very exciting. I really enjoy voting by mail: Filling out the piece of paper, carefully following all the instructions—you don’t get to join your fellow citizens in the corporate moment of Election Day, but, to me, it still feels like an important ceremony. It’s nice, and if you’d like to join me in voting by mail (separately, from our own homes), you have until October 27th to request your ballot from the Virginia Department of Elections.
But voting is just one part of participating in democracy! We need good, progressive candidates to vote for, too (preferably ones that constantly think about zoning and rezoning and love nothing more than a good public work survey). That candidate could be you! Yes, literally you! Every great candidate was, at some point, a person standing in their kitchen shouting about some issue and wondering aloud, “Fine, maybe I should just run!”
A couple weeks ago I got this really lovely email from Traci Fanssen, candidate for the Chesterfield School Board, Matoaca District:
“Heads up that Chesterfield has School Board elections THIS year—and I answered your question ‘should I run for school board’ with a YES, because there is a Moms For Liberty candidate in my district that I did NOT want to let run unopposed. I tried to talk a few other people into it, but they had other obligations, and so, here I am! Long-time public education advocate putting my name on the line to defend the freedoms to learn, teach, and parent—without letting only the loudest voices in the room dictate what all children have access to in their public schools. School board candidates don't get the ad-spending headlines, but we are on the front lines of standing against the censorship of vulnerable communities. And if anyone is considering running next year in Richmond, I have some tips for them to get started.”
How awesome is this?? Follow Traci’s example! If you, a regular person, can’t stop shouting to your friends and family about an issue—transportation, parks, education, child care, whatever—maybe it’s time to get serious about it. Considering running for something in Richmond’s 2024 elections, and take Traci up on her offer—but probably wait until after the election so she has a minute to breathe.
A new north-south bus rapid transit survey just dropped, and this one asks you some questions about the specific route a north-south BRT should run. I’m fascinated that they’ve included Lombardy Street in a couple of the options. Lombardy is pretty narrow, and I’m not sure where they’d cram some of the infrastructure needed to support true bus rapid transit. Like...would it just run in mixed traffic the length of Lombardy? That does not seem very BRT-like. I’d like to learn more!
City Council’s Governmental Operations committee meets today and has two interesting items on their agenda. First, RES. 2023-R011, which would take some steps toward the City acquiring Evergreen and East End cemeteries from the now defunct EnRichmond Foundation. Second, they’ll hear a presentation recapping the recommended changes to the City’s charter. If you zoned out during that entire process, this helpful summary document will do a good job of catching you up.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Em Holter reports on yesterday’s Casino 2.0 job hubbub: “The developers of the Richmond Grand Resort and Casino have added another promise to its growing list: the prospect of hundreds of union construction jobs.” Union jobs are good, casinos are bad. Both can be true!
This morning's longread
The End of Privacy is a Taylor Swift Fan TikTok Account Armed with Facial Recognition Tech
Ten-years-ago me would have absolutely zero hope of understanding the collection of words that make up this article’s title. Today-me sort of understands that this seems really bad and kind of wants to just stay inside forever.
The 90,000 follower-strong account typically picks targets who appeared in other viral videos, or people suggested to the account in the comments. Many of the account’s videos show the process: screenshotting the video of the target, cropping images of the face, running those photos through facial recognition software, and then revealing the person’s full name, social media profile, and sometimes employer to millions of people who have liked the videos. There’s an entire branch of content on TikTok in which creators show off their OSINT doxing skills—OSINT being open source intelligence, or information that is openly available online. But the vast majority of them do it with the explicit consent of the target. This account is doing the same, without the consent of the people they choose to dox. As a bizarre aside, the account appears to be run by a Taylor Swift fan, with many of the doxing videos including Swift’s music, and including videos of people at the Eras Tour.
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Picture of the Day
I saw this amazing machine on the road the other day, and then learned about the “Smash My Trash” business model of compacting trash in other companies’ haul-away dumpsters. Fascinating! Also, how much do I want to operate a trash smasher??
